Cliff's Edge
by wstrnplsr105
Summary: Because the first high school party should be the most memorable. / or Charlotte doesn't like parties, but she can't say no to those brown eyes.


**I have GOT to stop staying up til 2am writing one-shots.**

 **But here I am again writing this little idea out that came from a LONG list of AU prompts I found on tumblr randomly yesterday. (hey, spoiler alert: the prompt was your OTP + 7 minutes in heaven) But anyway, I watched Mouth Candy earlier and of course, like all of season 3 so far, I loved it. (Still got my little Chenry moment(s), mainly the scene at his house but honestly even the fact that it was Charlotte who texted him at the very beginning of the episode had me grinning like an idiot because I can't help myself...) But also Jasper throwing the candy at Mitch at the store in anger had me cracking up, I don't even know why.**

 **Sooooo, I actually have this one unfinished one-shot that I started a little while back and started to work on it tonight, but then I thought of this one and decided, hey, what if I do this one and then turn the other one into a sequel like I did before? So yeah, that's happening again. Since I've already started the sequel previously, I hope it won't take too long to finish it and post it.**

 **But thank you to everyone who has been reviewing, following, and all that stuff! You guys are the best, and I can't tell you how much it means to me for you to just read my stories, and to actually comment and want to read more? I love you guys so much!**

 **Okay, one more thing: I got an overall positive response for the college idea, so I'm hoping to maybe try it out sometime soon. I will be posting the sequel to this one-shot before the college one, so I can give y'all a better idea on the info and all that then. Anyway, I'll leave y'all alone to read now, hope you guys like it and let me know whatcha think!**

 **Song/Title: Cliff's Edge by Hayley Kiyoko (it's amazing, one of my absolute favorites EVER)**

* * *

 _"Closing in, closer to you,_

 _This could take all night,_

 _Caving and crumbling on your_

 _Hips, your lips, they're mine."_

Even at 17 years old, Charlotte is _not_ one for parties.

It's not that she's antisocial or anything. She just doesn't see being surrounded by half drunk teens and loud, ear-drum shattering music as a fun Saturday night.

(And it's not even _good_ music.)

But she's a sucker for Henry Hart's brown eyes pleading with her to tag along with him to their _first big party_ and it's going to be _so much fun_ and suddenly she's at a crowded house of some senior that Henry knows and she does _not_ wanna be here.

(She admits one thing: The three-hour long skype session with her closest girl cousin over what to wear to her first high school party was worth the look that her _best friend_ gave her when he came to pick up her.)

She feels so different in her high waist jeans _("they elongate your legs")_ and her black cold shoulder shirt _("black makes anyone look good")_ but she has definitely been getting stares in the ten minutes that they've been here.

"Just stay close to me and you'll be fine." Even though he's barely murmuring, she can still focus on his voice through all the noise and rolls her eyes in typical Charlotte fashion.

"I don't need a babysitter." She retorts, even though they both know she's grateful for him not bailing on her.

He grins, not buying it for a second but not bothering to call her out on it.

"I know."

They drift from group to group, various people recognizing Henry and Charlotte can't even count ten familiar faces. She was hoping that there would be other juniors here like them, but the more she looks around, the more she realizes that they seem to be one of the only juniors here.

An hour and thirty-three minutes after they get there, she gets the courage to explore a little. He's talking to a couple of guys on the soccer team, so she nudges him in gently to motion to the rest of the house.

"I'm gonna walk around a little, I'll be back in a few minutes."

She both hates and loves the concern in his eyes as he looks down at her.

"I can come with you if you want, I don't mind-"

"Henry." She waves him off with a raised eyebrow, "I'll be fine."

"If you're sure." He still seems uneasy, biting his bottom lip nervously and she shakes her head before backing away.

"I'll be back."

The house is a lot bigger than she expected. She sees the stairs leading up to a second level, but doesn't even think about heading that way. This may be her first high school party, but she's not _that_ naïve.

Everyone seems content just standing and talking, drinking, dancing, just being here and she thinks maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all.

"Hey!"

She jumps at the voice calling from her right and looks down to see a group of three girls and two guys sitting in a circle in the living room and realizes that they were talking to her.`

"Me?" She asks dumbly, her hand falling to her chest in confusion. One of the girls, a pretty long haired brunette, nods with a laugh.

"Yeah, you. We need more people, come on!"

"For what?" Charlotte walks closer anyway, cringing when she sees an empty beer bottle in the girl's hand.

 _Oh please don't be-_

"Seven minutes in heaven, duh." The blonde two people away pipes up with a teasing smirk and Charlotte immediately back-tracks.

"Oh, no, no, no! I really don't w-"

"Hey, Char!"

 _Oh thank God._

"Henry!" She spins around to face him thankfully, "I was actually looking for you-"

"Hey, you're boyfriend can join too!"

Charlotte spins to face the brunette again as Henry looks on in confusion.

"What?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Charlotte quickly interrupts and the brunette shrugs offhandedly.

"Whatever. Either way, come on."

"I really don't-" Charlotte protests, glancing at Henry for backup.

"Yeah, we actually have to-" He pipes up, motioning towards the rest of the house.

"Hart!" One of the soccer players from earlier nudges the blonde, "Hey, spin the bottle!"

"Seven minutes in heaven." The brunette corrects with a smirk, earning a smirk in return.

"Even better." He turns to Henry with a raised brow, "You playing?"

"Uhh, I mean.."

"Come on, Hart, you gotta. It's like, a rule for your first party." He urges, lightly shoving Henry towards the circle. Henry stops, looking at Charlotte who finally shrugs awkwardly.

"Why not?" Charlotte tries to cover up her discomfort, knowing that Henry can see right through it anyway. She quickly sits down beside the blonde girl, smiling uncomfortably at the redheaded guy now on her right.

"Yeah, no." She hears the brunette command, looking up to see Henry trying to sit next to her, "Blondie, you've gotta sit over here."

Henry stares at her for a moment, then sighs, following her motion until he's seated between her and a black haired girl. He looks across the circle, catching Charlotte's eye with an apologetic look that she waves off.

"First up." The brunette puts the bottle in the center, pointing the neck at herself before giving it a spin.

It lands on the redhead next to Charlotte, who grins in triumph as he stands up.

"Let's go, Hailee."

The brunette rolls her eyes playfully before following him to the hallway with her phone. Charlotte cringes at the thought before directing her attention back to the game.

"Twenty bucks says they stay in there for way more than seven minutes." The black haired girl snorts, drawing a laugh from the others in the circle.

"Those two have been all over each other since eighth grade." The soccer player adds with a laugh.

Charlotte can't believe how lucky she is getting. The bottle has been spun six times so far, and not once has it landed on her or Henry.

(Maybe she will survive her first high school party after all.)

Then the bottle lands on Henry and the black haired girl and Charlotte's heart drops past the floor, past the ground, and lands somewhere in the very core of the earth where it burns hotter than anything she's ever felt before.

He's staring at her and she knows he's seen the look on her face but she still forces herself to smile and give him a thumbs up in support (because the girl is actually really pretty and she's just the best friend who is happy for him no matter what) and he gives her a strange, unreadable look before standing up with the girl, walking down the hallway to the closet.

She swears it's the longest seven minutes of her life.

She tries to distract herself, think of _anything_ other than the black haired girl and Henry kissing and she doesn't even realize that they've come back until she hears the bottle clink against the floor as Henry spins it.

She looks up in time to see the neck of the bottle _and oh God it's pointing at her._

She knows she must have the same deer-in-the-headlights expression that her best friend does as they stare at each other.

"Soooo…." The blonde next to her breaks the silence, "Are you two going to get up or just stare at each other for the rest of the night?"

Henry clears his throat awkwardly before standing up, eyes avoiding Charlotte as she follows his actions.

The walk to the closet is quiet and tense and neither one of them know what to expect when Henry closes the closet door and turns on the dim light hanging above their heads.

Charlotte knows he couldn't help it, but _God_ she's still hurt over the black haired girl.

"We don't have to, ya know." Henry is the first to speak as he shoves his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"All kissed out from last time?" Charlotte tries to joke, but she knows he can hear the slight bitterness in her tone.

"Actually, no." He starts to chuckle, "I'm, uh, not her type."

Charlotte looks at him in confusion.

"I'm a dude."

" _Oh._ " She nods, feeling like a complete idiot as she leans against the wall to her right.

"Yeah."

It's quiet for a few more seconds.

"How much longer do we have?"

Charlotte checks the timer on her phone.

"Six minutes and thirteen seconds."

"Oh."

"Yep."

 _More silence._

She can't stand this horrible, _horrible_ silence so she racks her brain to think of _anything_ to say because _anything_ is better than this.

She looks up and suddenly he's staring at her so differently than he ever has and it's so intense that she can't _breathe_ and her mouth just starts moving without a thought.

"So, um-"

She only gets out two syllables before Henry Hart, her best friend and Swellview's superhero sidekick, is cupping her face in his hands and _kissing_ her even though they had a silent mutual agreement to _not_ kiss but _it's happening and why?!_

She doesn't even get a chance to fully comprehend the situation before he pulls away suddenly, eyes wide in surprise, like hers and mouth open in shock, like hers.

He stammers for an explanation as she stares at him, so many emotions flooding her senses at once and she really only knows one thing.

"I'm sorry, I-"

Her hands move to his collar on their own and she's yanking him back to her and their lips are together once again.

His right hand moves back to cup her face, while the left grips her hip as he kisses her back so fiercely that her breath catches in her throat.

She doesn't really know what's going on, why he kissed her in the first place, why neither one of them has stopped this. They went from best friends in an awkward situation to an unexpected kiss to her back against the wall of this small closet in some senior's house that she doesn't even _know_ but she doesn't care because she's had feelings for him since fifth grade and she is _not_ going to question this.

 _(At least not right now.)_

About the time that she's wondering how this is going to end, her phone is blaring some generic chime and Henry jumps back and they're now both gasping for air as she scrambles to silence the timer.

They both look up at each other, faces darkening even more before they look away.

"Char-"

The realization of what actually happened hits her and _her and Henry just basically made out in a closet_ and she can't handle this right now.

"We should get back out there."

She yanks open the door, practically bolting through until she reaches the circle again and only stops for half a second.

"Not feeling well, I've gotta go!" She offers her lame excuse to the group, not really caring at this moment but it's better than nothing. She's shoving her way through the house, ignoring Henry's calls from behind her.

And she gets outside to realize that he drove her here but she only lives two blocks from here and she's desperate enough to step onto the sidewalk and nearly sprint the entire way home.

 _(She doesn't even know why she's got tears in her eyes.)_


End file.
